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Aces of Trades – Pataskala's Dairy Hut

Drew Bracken, Correspondent
Published 5:02 p.m. ET May 6, 2018

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Husband and wife duo, Gary and Karen Bocock, peak out of the serving windows of the Dairy Hut in Pataskala which just opened for the season. The are locally know and famous for their coney dogs and ice cream products. (Photo: Jessica Phelps/The Advocate)Buy Photo

PATASKALA – Gary Bocock wouldn’t mind playing shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds, but he’s spent a lifetime doing what he really likes best – working in the dairy business and serving up goodies at The Dairy Hut in Pataskala.

“I worked for my dad as a door-to-door milkman in his own company,” he remembered. “We sold milk not only door-to-door, but to commercial customers like truck stops, small mom-and-pop stores, nursing homes, childcare, etc.”

“We sold ice cream mix to several small ice cream shops around the area and we sold milk to the people who owned The Dairy Hut,” he continued. “We mentioned to them we’d like to buy the business if they ever wanted to sell it. That was on a Thursday. By Saturday at noon, we bought it. That was in 1979.”

“Ten years ago,” he added, “my wife, Karen, and I bought out my dad, Calvin, so he could retire. She’s helped me continue to grow and improve the business ever since.”

Meanwhile, Bocock also said, “I ran the milk route for 34 years and retired from it 10 years ago. When I retired I still had a few customers my father had started with 56 years prior. What a ride!”

Bocock grew up in Pickerington in the 1960’s “when it was a small town. It was so small they didn’t have Little League baseball,” he recalled. “My dad delivered milk not only in Pickerington, Kirkersville and Outville, but also in Pataskala. He knew everybody, and because of that I was invited to join the Pataskala Little League when I was 8 years old. I grew up with two hometowns with many friends in each. It made for a very happy childhood.”

Bocock, by the way, won’t come right out and tell his age but he will say, with tongue-in-cheek, “40 years ago when we bought The Dairy Hut I was 23 years old.”

He graduated from Pickerington High School in 1973, then went to Muskingum College and Columbus State to study accounting. He’ll concede all that education has helped him run the business but, he clarified, “real life played just as big a part.”

“I’d say the groundwork actually started,” he continued, “when playing baseball in high school for the legendary coach, Jack Johnson – code of conduct, respect, discipline, follow through, how to read people, doing the right thing, good sportsmanship and so much more. And I guess I come from the best kind of training there is: good old common sense.”

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Opening day for the Dairy Hut in Pataskala was a busy one. The Dairy hut is run by
Gary and Karen Bocock. (Photo: Jessica Phelps/The Advocate)

“My absolute favorite thing, hands down,” he added, “is talking with the customers. I like to hear their stories, where they’re from, how long they’ve been coming to The Hut, and I’m always thrilled when I talk a customer into trying something they haven’t before… and they love it!”

One of those customers was Hollywood A-lister Bruce Willis when he was in the area shooting a movie a couple years ago.

“Bruce came to The Dairy Hut,” Bocock recalled, “and said, ‘I had to come see the guy they tell me looks like me.’ And I told him he came to the wrong place because, ‘Around here they say you look like me!”

Nonetheless, Bocock still remembers Willis, “bought a Foot-Long Coney with cheese and onion, and a chocolate malt.”

For more:

The Dairy Hut is located at 42 South Main Street in Pataskala. For more information, call 740-739-7878 or check out their Facebook page.

Aces of Trades is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs – whether they’re unusual jobs, fun jobs or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at advocate@newarkadvocate.com or 740-328-8821.